Eustache of the Rusting Blade
Eustache of the Rusting Blade is one of the most skilled swordsmen in Mousillon, and it is said he is second only to Mallobaude himself in the skills of the battlefield. He was also probably the first knight to join Mallobaude. Sir Eustache was marked out from a young age as an exceptional warrior. The son of a minor Knight of Mousillon, the young Eustache was sent to the court of the Duke of Gisoreux where he could hone his potential as a knight. As a Knight Errant, Eustache rode the heaths and pasturelands east of Gisoreux, where many battles had been fought in the past and where bands of Orcs from the Grey Mountains still preyed on the commoners. Among other heroics, Eustache took the head of an Orc chieftain and was much renowned in Gisoreux as a relentless knight and a true master swordsman whose skills confounded even the most experienced of Gisoreux’ weapon tutors. Gisoreux faced the border with the Empire and was traditionally the site of many conflicts between the two nations. A group of mercenaries in the pay of an Imperial noble from Nordland was hunting notorious outlaws in the lands around Marienburg and strayed into the territory of Gisoreux. Fearing an invasion, many of Gisoreux’s knights rode out, led by Eustache. He came across the mercenaries, and a vicious struggle ensued where Eustache’s superior swordsmanship won through, and the mercenaries were slain or scattered. When word of this got back to the Empire, a retaliatory mission was mounted, and it looked like war could break out between the Empire and Bretonnia. The Duke of Gisoreux and the Elector Count of Nordland hurriedly exchanged messages to ensure peace, and the Duke offered to hand over Eustache to the Empire so he could be tried as an isolated criminal and the situation could be defused. With Eustache honour-bound to obey his duke and allow Empire troops to take him into custody, the Elector Count had little reason to believe Eustache would be anything more than a swift execution and a conflict avoided. But to Eustache, the situation wasn’t that simple. As far as he was concerned, he had been thrown away as an offering to a foreign power, simply for defending the lands to which he was pledged. He had been betrayed by the very duke who had taught him what honour and duty were. He was no longer a knight, no longer bound by the Knightly Code, and no longer had a duty to the crown. His only duty was to himself. Halfway through the journey between Gisoreux and Nordland, Eustache broke his bonds, snatched up a sword, and killed the soldiers escorting him. He fled back into Bretonnia, but there he quickly realised that the knights he had once called brothers would no longer give him aid, fearful of dishonour in the eyes of the duke. So Eustache fled to the most forsaken, least honourable place in Bretonnia—the home he had barely known, Mousillon. Eustache made a bleak living as a sell-sword, his superior martial prowess only just compensating for the poverty of the duchy. When Mallobaude came to crystallise his plan for the duchy, he realised he needed an executioner, someone who could kill in his stead. He heard of a bitter, vengeful knight unhappily selling his skills as a murderer to depraved nobles and sought him out. He told Eustache of his chilling Grail vision, and Eustache readily accepted the Bretonnia he had served was a lie. Mallobaude’s revelation explained all Eustache needed to know about this nation that had instilled him with virtues of honour and obedience and then betrayed him with indecent haste. Eustache is now Mallobaude’s pet killer, despatched to assassinate enemies Mallobaude does not wish to deal with personally. Eustache also sometimes delivers messages, summons or ultimatums for Mallobaude, and he is always listened to. Eustache was once a strikingly handsome man but his hawk-like nose and hooded eyes now seem cruel. And now he is always sneering. Eustache’s prowess with the sword is almost unmatched, but he has grown to employ other methods, from stabbing victims in their bed to burning down their houses. Eustache is sometimes known as Eustache of the Rusting Blade, a nickname he himself coined after being scolded by a fencing tutor as a boy for not looking after his blade properly. He uses the name to make sure he is always reminded that no matter how good a swordsman he is, there is always much he can learn about the art of death. Eustache wears no heraldry since he renounced his knightly vows, but technically his arms are those of a white fleur-de-lis and white boar on a quartered red and white field. These are the arms of Eustache’s father, who still lives in his crumbling keep in the western Grismerie valley, believing that his son was executed after murdering a band of Imperial soldiers. Should Eustache ever have to execute his father, he will have no compunctions about the deed at all. Source * Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Barony of the Damned ** : pg. 37 ** : pg. 38 Category:Bretonnian Characters Category:Mousillon Category:B Category:E Category:R